Rainy Weekend

A rainy weekend at the cottage with friends had kids out dodging raindrops, husbands having a grand time as the fish were biting and wives sitting in the quiet of the cabin and enjoying the peace. Lots of gossiping and, in my case, knitting was done. Finished the shawl and I am very happy with the results. I wasn't sure about my edging when I started it but I love it on the finished project. Next on the list is writing up the pattern.

I have started a wrap for Alpaca with a Twist. Pictures will be shared next time maybe.

Abundance of Summer

Wow, been almost a month since my last post. Too many things to do in the summer so computer time is taking a hit. Things I have accomplished in the last month...

Finished first pass of a new pattern for the etsy shop. Here is how it turned out. I have some changes I want to try on the next one before the pattern is ready for publishing.

Read the final book in the Harry Potter series. I really enjoyed the ending. I will say no more in case any of you are still working on it.

Garden produce is everywhere. I have been distributing zucchini and cucumbers at the office. Canning of the beans and pickles is done for the year. I started freezing beets and peppers this evening. Sweet corn is almost ready. Husband has started digging up the red potatoes. Noticed my first orange tomato tonight so we are getting close to salsa, spaghetti, soup and pizza sauce time. Half of the onions have been dried and stored. Waiting patiently for the first cantalope to be ready for picking.


Finished spinning my purple fleece and made my first 2 ply. Still need to wash it to set the twist.


Cotton plants are flowering. I saw my first flowers on them last night and they are lovely in my opinion. Color seems to vary from light pink to deep rose on the same plant. Not sure if this is an indication of how long the flower has been opened or just the way it is. I will have to keep an eye on them for the next couple of days and see what I can learn.


Finally, this years fun project has been eating up a considerable amount of time. We have had a flower bed next to a wall on the barn hill for about 15 years. It's main purpose is to hold the cement wall which holds the dirt on the hill. Maintaining and weeding of this area has become impossible so my husband suggested converting it into the water feature I had been hinting at for a couple of years. It only took us about a week to start digging in. Lots of shoveling and rock arranging later this is where we are currently at. Still working out the kinks on the pump which the water can also flow through and pour into the bucket and we will probably be doing some more digging to increase the size and depth of the bottom pool so it is deep enough to house fish. Those modifications and some more plantings to disguise the mechanics of it and I think we will have this one conquered. Next year, we are talking about a covered bridge.

Update on the cotton and knitting projects

I had a request from Jean about my cotton growing venture today so I thought I would provide some more information for her and an update for anyone else who is interested. Along with a quick note on the knitting projects.

Cotton status, as of today, I still have 4 of the original 10 cotton plants which went outdoors (3 green cotton plants and 1 white). The plants are approximately 12 inches tall and appear to be getting some type of seed in the center just below the top leaves. I tried to get a picture of this but it got too fuzzy when I zoomed in. So I have only included an overall picture of the plant.


In the knitting arena I currently have 3 projects I am actively working on.

My Journey Shawl grew considerably during the Maine vacation but I wasn't happy with some parts of the pattern. Originally, I was going to continue on and just do another one using what I had learned with this one but last night I changed my mind. So I ripped out (is this what people refer to as frogging???) about 4 inches of the shawl, back to the part of the pattern I was not happy with. I have now started back in finishing out the cables and converting over to a simple lace pattern but this time I have included a border to separate the cables from the lace and will hopefully not make quite so many errors on the lace portion.

Another project is a rambling rows cardigan for myself from yarn I recycled from a sweater I had made my husband when we were dating (approximately 17 years ago). He wore it rarely and was getting rid of it. I always loved the yarn so I took the sweater apart and am making one for myself. I have completed the back and am working on the front right side currently. Pictures will be provided someday.

Final project is a double knit hot pad in a yellow and green check pattern. I made one for my sister-in-law last fall which she really enjoys so I started another to place in the etsy shop if I ever finish it.

Now, more cotton details for those who are interested. Everyone else may want to stop reading now unless you are having trouble with insomnia, then by all means continue.

March 12, 2007 - received 3 varieties of cotton seeds (white, red and green) from mail order
March 15, 2007 - planted seeds in 4 inch peet pots filled with Miracle Grow potting soil. 12 (6 white, 3 red, 3 green) pots were placed in bay window with an eastern exposure. Remaining 3 pots (1 of each type) were placed at a western exposure window. Watering was done as needed to keep the pots moist.

Late May, 5 white, 2 red and 3 green pots had sprouted. All 3 in western exposure sprouted and 7 in Eastern exposure. Plants varied from just a couple leaves to up to 5 leaves. Placed on screened in back porch to harden off in preparation for planting outdoors. Continued to water as needed.

June 2, approximately 11 weeks after starting the plants, they were transferred outside to a full sun location on the corner of the property. Soil in the outside location is just regular dirt (I added nothing special to improve it) although, it is some of the better soil we have on the property since we have a lot of clay which is like growing in rocks. For the first 3 weeks, I watered pretty much daily unless I got help from Mother Nature. Since then it has been just as needed. I lost all but 4 plants usually to the sun burning them off but one was killed by an over-helpful husband, I still have 1 white and 3 green plants. In hind site I shouldn't have planted some of the smaller plants out until they got 4 or 5 leaves on them.

Hope that helps Jean. If you or anyone else has more questions let me know.

Vacation in Maine

Maine was beautiful. We took off on Saturday morning and by Sunday evening we had made it to Portland, Maine (driving, of course, with 4 kids). Maine reminded me a lot of the upper peninsula of Michigan only on a grander scale. The hills and mountains are higher, the rocks are bigger and the water is colder. The kids had a wonderful time climbing on rocks and daring the waves as they came in one the tide. Most of the time the waves won.

We did lots of hiking through Acadia trying to burn off the energy of 4 kids cooped up in a car for too long. Most days it worked and we didn't leave any of them behind in Maine so it was a good vacation. Here is the gang on one of the trails and another shot of a rock they all thought looked like an 'L' which is a joke with the neighbor - L stands for Loser and we will have to get this one framed for the Big M.


If anyone has thought about visiting Maine I would say go for it. We all had lots of fun. On the way home we stopped at several locations including Step Falls in Newry Maine


Toured Ben and Jerry's ice cream factory in Vermont and also the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory. Lots of fun.

When I got home I had a package waiting for me. It was the 2008 knitting calendar. I had submitted one of my patterns and they included it in next year's calendar. Guess I can now say I have been published.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Wow, it has been almost 2 weeks since I posted and this one isn't going to be much of a post but at least I can say I am still here.

Working on a design for the journey shawl. Hope to have a picture or two to share in the next week or so since I will have lots of knitting time in the car in the near future.

Garden is growing like a banshee and the cotton plants are looking very good. I still have 4 plants, 3 are green cotton and 1 is standard white. All of them have doubled in size since we got the thunderstorms earlier in the week. Joe at work says they love the nitrogen in the rain. Don't know if he is right but they certainly like something about God's watering over mine. That's ok, I prefer God do the watering as well :o) .

Hubby has been gone for the last week working on a cottage for a friend so I have had to keep the home fire burning on my own. Thankfully he is back.

Getting ready for vacation now, probably won't post again until we get back. Check back in a couple of weeks, I hope to have some awesome pictures to share from Maine.

Let the Journey begin

Last night was the second official meeting of the Journey to a Shawl group at Sip N Knit and the first I was able to attend. Journey to a Shawl was an adventure I heard about through Maple and Cary. If you would like to learn more about the Journey click here. Originally I was going to make the shawl from yarn I purchased some time ago and I have even started that shawl as mentioned in a previous post. But the more I thought about what this is suppose to be...a journey, trying something new, expanding ourselves together...I decided that I should at least try the spinning part of the journey. So last night I took along my spinning wheel instead of my knitting. When I purchased my wheel Alisa threw in the roving and spinning you see at the base of the wheel. It is a beautiful shade of purple which is one of my favorite colors as attested to by the blue purple tiles and purples walls in the background of the picture. She had spun everything you see and decided it wasn't the hobby for her. My plans are to finish spinning the roving and then using my spinning and whatever I need of Alisa's to knit the shawl. This is definitely not lace weight yarn so I am also studying some shawl patterns to get the general idea and then I will come up with something I hope will work with the yarn I have.
On other subjects, I have 3 cotton plants doing really well and 3 others I am hopeful will make it. I lost a couple of them within the first days of being moved outside and yesterday my husband accidentally uprooted one while he was weeding. Luckily it was one of the questionable ones although my last red one that was still hanging in there. He quickly replanted it but the odds are not in it's favor.

Summer vacation has begun for the kids and boredom is looming for them. I need to get the chores list done for them as well as the summer olympic games. And for anyone who is curious about the summer olympics, this is a boredom chaser we started 2 summers ago. Each year we come up with silly games/contests the kids do during the day and then record their progress. Hubby and I try to make sure we note the events recorded through out the week and praise the progress. I will even do up award certificates at the end of summer. Amazingly, each child usually receives the same number of awards. Previous years events have included # of free throws made out of 100, best golf score using the miniature golf course we created in the back yard using empty frosting cups, number of puzzle pieces placed, pages and books read, etc. It is a fun way to get the kids to keep in practice with their sports, keep them reading or just stop boredom.

Off to check on the garden and cotton and then spend some time studying the shawl patterns.

Growing cotton in Michigan

About 9 months ago I got an opportunity to buy a used Louet spinning wheel which I jumped at the chance to purchase. Spinning wheels are one of those things that have fascinated me since I was a small child. Through the Middle of the Mitten group I have also met wonderful ladies through whom I can purchase wool, alpaca and angora roving for spinning but even with these sources I wanted to have my own source of spinning material. I thought about rabbits or a goat but my husband wasn't keen on the idea and I admit I don't really have time to take care of animals. So I found a used copy of the book 'A Weaver's Garden' by Rita Buchanan which tells how to grow many plants for fiber. Flax and hemp are mentioned as being very easy to grow in Northern climates but the preparation of the plant for spinning was somewhat involved, not to mention growing hemp (or marijuana) is illegal and I don't think they would allow my wheel or needles inside the cell with me.

So my next choice was cotton. But I live in Michigan, definitely not cotton growing country but
nothing ventured, nothing gained so off I went to investigate using my trust worthy tool, Google. I found an article by Nev Sweeney describing small scale cotton growing. He described how he had broken several rules of cotton growing but was still successful in his endeavor. With Nev in my corner I found a source for cotton seeds at www.earthlyseed.com (Google again), purchased some peat pots and potting soil and away I went.

Placed the planted seeds on the windowsill about mid March.
It took 2 - 3 weeks for the first little guys to poke their heads out.

At about 10 weeks after planting, I moved the plants from the windowsill to the screened in back porch to prepare them for the fluctuations in Michigan's weather and at 11 weeks I moved them to the selected location in the yard.



Like a hen with her chicks I have been checking them at least daily making sure that they are doing ok and nothing is disturbing their growth. If all goes well I will have 3 kinds of cotton to play with by September, a standard white variety - Upland, a green cotton and Nankeen - a red cotton. Gotta go check on my babies now.